Bjcorbin's Blog

The longer that I walk the journey of faith the more that I am convinced that our relationship with God is only as close as we want it to be and that if we feel that God is distant; it is because we’ve not done our part in cultivating that relationship. The scripture says that if we’ll draw close to Him, He will draw close to us; that if we’ll seek Him, we will find Him; and that if we’ll open the door to Him, He will come in. In every case, we’re called to take the first step and God promises to be responsive. Along the way I’ve encountered those who claim to be seeking Him and not finding Him, but I’ve noticed that many times these ones aren’t really as interested in finding Him as they are in finding something that they believe He can give them. In such cases, their faith and hope is not rooted in the person of God, but in that “something” that they believe that He can provide for them.

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It seems to me that our first step toward God is generally driven by the realization of our need for Him; and while that is a necessary step, it is important that we not stop there. If our need becomes the motivation, the fulfillment of that need will generally cause us to cease our pursuit. In the scripture, we see an example of this in the story of the ten lepers. These men understood that they had a need and on some level they believed that Jesus could address that need; but once their issue was resolved, nine of them couldn’t even be bothered to come back and say thank you. We frequently see this in churches today; where a circumstance will drive a person to cry out to Jesus, but once that circumstance is resolved, we never see them again. Such a person can claim to believe in Jesus and they may even have a testimony of how He’s worked in their lives; but they cannot necessarily claim to have a relationship with Him or even to be a part of His family.

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This needs based pursuit of God can be taken a step further, in that we can come to view Him as the source of all good things and therefore the provider for all of our needs. This too is a valid revelation to have, but again it keeps our needs at the center of our motivation and it doesn’t necessarily drive us toward relationship. I believe that the man healed through Peter and John at the gate (called Beautiful) to the temple could be symbolic of this mindset. He sat at the gate everyday, presumably because he recognized some virtue in God’s people and maybe even in what was going on there; but he himself didn’t feel as though he could enter in. Today, there are many in the church that come because they recognize that they have needs and that God has the ability to meet those needs; but they don’t feel personally connected to Him and/or as though others have been afforded access that hasn’t been granted to them. Such people can be identified by their tendency to exalt gifted ministers, to drift away when their needs are being met and to be angry with God when they perceive lack in their life. While it is Gods’ heart to meet the needs of His people, this paradigm threatens to reduce the mission of the “Body of Christ” to little more than that of a benevolent service organization (e.g. the Lions Club, Meals on Wheels…).

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It seems to me that Gods intent since the fall of man has been to reconnect us to Him and that the hindrance to this has always been our insistence on doing things our own way. The Ark of the Covenant, the Temple, Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, the tearing of the veil, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit… all demonstrate His desire to be in “direct” relationship with His people and yet mankind continues to find ways to squander these provisions. While the Lord revels in His role as our provider, His heart is to be so much more than that. The temple was never meant to be a monument to an historical God, it was meant to be a place to encounter the living God (i.e. in the present tense). As the Lord meets us at the place of our need, our thankful hearts bring us into the gates and our praise draws us into the courts. As He inhabits our praise, the tangible sense of His nearness moves us to the place of genuine worship (i.e. in Spirit and in truth) and of submission to His will. As we step toward Him, He steps towards us and His glory is revealed. As we behold His glory, we are transformed by it and we begin to reflect His image. Like Moses coming from the mountain or the Apostles emerging from the Upper room, our “unveiled faces” reflect His glory and it becomes apparent to those around us that we’ve been in His presence. Through this reflection of His glory within us, He draws men unto Himself and His commission for us is fulfilled.

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We can be truly grateful for what He’s done and even be willing to sing His praises, yet never reach the place of genuine worship, submission, relationship, transformation or of Him being glorified in us. We can continue on to the place of worship, submission and even relationship, yet if we never get close enough to behold the glory of the Lord, it is doubtful that His glory will ever be revealed in us. Within the Charismatic movement there is much ado about “the anointing” (i.e. the spiritual gifts & supernatural abilities given by God for the work of ministry), which is no doubt a tremendous blessing; but it was never meant to become a substitute for the manifest presence of God (i.e. the glory). This emphasis on “the anointing”, without a corresponding pursuit of the person of God, only serves to divert our focus from the “Author & Finisher of our faith” and onto ministers and ministries. Evidence that such an imbalance exists would include ministers who are treated like superstars and church members who experience little or no genuine transformation. At the gate called beautiful, Peter & John did not give the crippled man what he thought he needed (i.e. money); instead they allowed the glory of God to be revealed in them. Beyond the physical healing that this man experienced, it says that he entered into the temple with them and that he praised the Lord. As we’ve become the temple of His Holy Spirit, we need to remember that the glory cloud did not descend upon the temple from the sky, but that it rose up from within the temple. It is Christ “in” us that is the hope of glory; and all of creation continues to wait in eager expectation for the revealing of the sons of God.